and heathen image-making-and that, too, on a scale of incon ceivable magnitude-precisely similar to what existed in the time of the prophets, three thousand years ago!—yea more, that so exact is the parallelism, that were you to range through the vocabulary of all languages for terms to pourtray what your own eyes behold, you could not find words or figures more aptly representative than the graphic, the almost pictorial, portraiture of the inspired seers of the house of Israel.

As you gaze at the image-makers, your thoughts pass to and fro. The recollections of the past strangely blend with the visible exhibitions of the present. The old settled convictions of home-experience are suddenly counterpoised by the previously unimagined scene that has opened to the view. Your conclusions seem for a moment to vibrate in the balance of a quivering judgment. To incline it one way or other, and thus determine the "dubious propendency," you again and again watch the movements of those before you. You contemplate their forms, and you cannot doubt that they are men. You narrowly mark their countenances; and you cannot but observe the sparks of intelligence beaming therefrom. Your wonder is vastly increased; but the grounds of your decision have multiplied too. And where can you find more appropriate terms for its annunciation, than in the bold language of the evangelical prophet:"They have not known nor understood; for He hath shut their eyes that they cannot see; and their hearts that they cannot understand. And none considereth in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire; and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? Shall I fall down to the stock of a tree? He feedeth on ashes; a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul; nor say, is there not a lie in my right hand?"

After the abatement of the first surprise, you are impelled to address the men :-What, you exclaim, do you really believe that, with your own hands, you can, out of wood and straw and clay, fabricate a god; before which you may fall down and worship? No; will be the prompt reply, we be

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lieve no such thing. What then do you believe? We believe, respond they, that we mould and fashion only the representative image or graven likeness of the deity. How, then, come you to worship it? Wait, may be the reply, till the first great day of the feast, and you will then see how it is rendered worthy of homage and adoration.

As the great day approaches, symptoms of increasing preparation thicken and multiply all around. People are seen in every direction peaceably conveying the images to their houses. The materials for wonder-stirring exhibitions and ceremonial observances, are every where accumulating. Thousands of residents from a distance, are seen returning to their homes in the interior, laden with the earnings and the profits of months to lavish on the great occasion. At length the Government offices are by proclamation shut for a whole week! Secular business of every description, public or private, is suspended by land and by water, in town and in country. All things seem to announce the approach of a grand holiday—a season of universal joy and festivity. Ye British merchants!-who are so often deaf to every call that does not reach you, as it rebounds from the temple of Mammon, would that ye could understand how the continuance of such a state of society vitally affects your pecuniary interests! For many days in succession, no clearances at the custom-house for lading or unlading,-no tables open at the exchange or other public offices for the transaction and despatch of necessary business,—no hiring of native agency, so indispensable for preparing or disposing of valuable cargoes. Your noble vessels lie motionless, lazily reflecting their shadows from the bosom of the mighty stream,-their pennons idly floating in the breeze.-Your men dispersed from want of regular employment,-madly roaming over city and country on wild crusades of intemperance and vice-contracting habits of future insubordination and misrule,—or haplessly treasuring up the seeds of incurable maladies. Apart altogether from the tarnishing of the British character, and the ruin of immortal souls, who can estimate the thousands that are thus periodically lost and consumed by

the constant recurrence of the Durga Pujah, and other heathen festivals? If deaf to the call of your God and Saviour-if dead to the highest and noblest interests of humanity, would that ye were in this case aroused to attend to your own! Would that ye were persuaded to throw those thousands, that are annually lost to you through the continuance of heathenism, into the Christian treasury; for the express purpose of expelling that very heathenism, the continued reign of which constitutes your loss,-and then would these thousands be ultimately restored to you, or to your children in kind, a hundred, yea a thousandfold. They would be restored to you with an ample revenue at once of glory and of profit;-and in this instance, it would be demonstrated how the most rapid advancement of your own temporal prosperity was coincident with the promotion of the eternal well-being of your fellow-men.

But to return to the festival. It extends altogether over a period of fifteen days. The greater part of that time is occupied with the performance of preliminary ceremonies, previous to the three great days of worship. Early on the morning of the first of the three great days commences the grand rite of consecrating the images. Hitherto these have been regarded merely as combinations of lifeless, senseless matter. Now, however, by the power of the Brahmansthose vicegerents of deity on earth-they are to be endowed with life and intelligence. A wealthy family can always secure the services of one or more Brahmans,—and of the very poor, a few may always unite, and secure the good offices of one of the sacred fraternity. At length the solemn hour arrives. The officiating Brahman, provided with the leaves of a sacred tree, and other holy accoutrements, approaches the image. With the two forefingers of his right hand he touches the breast, the two cheeks, the eyes, and the forehead of the image, at each successive touch giving audible utterance to the prayer,-"Let the spirit of Durga descend, and take possession of this image." And thus, by the performance of various ceremonies, and the enunciation of various mystical verses or incantations, called muntras,

the ghostly officiator is devoutly believed to possess the divine power of bringing down the goddess to take bodily possession of the image. The image is henceforward regarded as the peculiar local habitation of the divinity, and is believed to be really and truly animated by her. In this way the relation of the visible image to the invisible deity is held to be precisely the same as the relation of the human body to the soul, or subtle spirit that actuates it. The constant and universal belief is, that when the Brahman repeats the muntras, the deities must come, obedient to his call-agreeably to the favourite Sanskrit sloka, or verse :"The universe is under the power of the deities, the deities are under the power of the muntras,-the muntras are under the power of the Brahmans; consequently, the Brahmans are gods." This is the creed of the more enlightened; but a vast proportion of the more ignorant and unreflecting believe something far more gross. It is their firm persuasion, that by means of the ceremonies and incantations, the mass of rude matter has been actually changed or transformed, or, if you will, transubstantiated, into the very substance of deity itself. According to either view of the subject, whether more or less rational, the image is believed to be truly animated by divinity,-to be a real, proper, and legitimate object of worship. Having eyes, it can now behold the various acts of homage rendered by adoring votaries; having ears, it can be charmed by the symphonies of music and of song; having nostrils, it can be regaled with the sweet-smelling savour of incense and perfume; having a mouth, it can be luxuriated with the grateful delicacies of the rich banquet that is spread out before it.

Immediately after the consecration of the images, the worship commences; and is continued with numberless rites nearly the whole day. But what description can convey an idea of the multifarious complexity of Indian worship? -worship, too, simultaneously conducted in thousands of separate houses;-for on such occasions every house is converted into a temple? To bring the subject within some reasonable compass, you must suppose yourself in the house

of a wealthy native. Let it be one which is constructed, as usual, of a quadrangular form,-with a vacant area in the centre, open, or roofless towards the canopy of heaven. On one side is a spacious hall, opening along the ground floor by many folding doors to piazzas or verandahs on either side. These are crowded by the more common sort of visitors. Round the greater part of the interior is a range of galleries, with retiring chambers. Part of these is devoted to the reception of visitors of the higher ranks, whether European or native; and part is closed for the accommodation of the females of the family; who, without being seen themselves, may, through the venetians, view both visitors and worshippers, as well as the varied festivities. The walls, the columns, and fronts of the verandahs and galleries, are all fantastically decorated with a profusion of tinsel ornaments of coloured silk and paper, and glittering shapes and forms of gold and silver tissue. To crown all, there is, in the genuine Oriental style, an extravagant display of lustres,— suspended from the ceiling, and projecting from the walls, —which, when. kindled at night, radiate a flood of light enough to dazzle and confound ordinary vision.

At the upper extremity of the hall is the ten armed image of the goddess, raised several feet on an ornamented pedestal. On either side of her are usually placed images of her two sons ;-Ganesha, the god of wisdom, with his elephant head; and Kartikeya, the god of war, riding on a peacock. These are worshipped on this occasion, together with a multitude of demi-goddesses, the companions of Durga in her wars.

In the evening, about eight o'clock, the principal pujah, or worship, is renewed with augmented zeal. But what constitutes pujah, or worship, in that land? Watch the devotee, and you will soon discover. He enters the hall; he approaches the image; and prostrates himself before it. After the usual ablutions, and other preparatory rites, he next twists himself into a variety of grotesque postures; sometimes sitting on the floor, sometimes standing; sometimes looking in one direction and sometimes in another. Then follows the ordinary routine of observances;-sprinklings of